Andrew Jackson Hamilton (1815-1875), governor of Texas, was born in Huntsville,
Alabama, on January 28, 1815. He moved to Texas in 1846 and practiced law in La
Grange before moving to and settling in Austin. He married Mary Bowen, also of
Alabama. Governor Peter H. Bell of Texas appointed Hamilton acting attorney general
in 1849. From 1851 to 1853, Hamilton represented Travis County in the state House of
Representatives. In 1859, Hamilton was voted into the United States House of
Representatives. After returning to Texas in 1861, he won a special election to the
state Senate.

Hamilton was appointed military governor of Texas by President Abraham Lincoln in
1862 and provisional governor by Andrew Johnson in 1865, a position he held for one
year. He was a proponent of black suffrage and assisted in the organization of the
Southern Loyalists' Convention in Philadelphia in 1866. For a short while, Hamilton
moved to New Orleans and worked as a bankruptcy judge, but in 1867 he returned to
Texas as an associate justice on the state Supreme Court. After proving to be a
prominent figure in the Texas Constitutional Convention of 1868–1869, as well as
serving on the Republican National Executive Committee, Hamilton changed his views
and began to oppose the plan to turn West Texas into a separate, Unionist state and
withdrew his support for black suffrage. Because of this viewpoint change, Hamilton
became one of the state's leading moderate Republicans and ran (though
unsuccessfully) against radical Edmund J. Davis in the 1869 governor's race.
Hamilton never sought public office again after losing this election. He died of
tuberculosis on April 11, 1875, and was buried in Oakwood Cemetery, Austin.

Correspondence, speeches, legal records, scrapbook, a proclamation, and a commission
comprise the Andrew Jackson Hamilton Papers, 1847-1913, which document Hamilton’s
political and legal career in Texas. The papers include speeches given by Hamilton
in his position as a state Representative, as a state Senator, and as military and
provisional governor. Additionally, the papers relate to secession, Reconstruction,
and black suffrage. Due to the fragility of the originals, transcripts of the
correspondence and speeches are provided for patron use.

Access Restrictions

The collection is open for research.

Due to the fragility of the originals, transcripts of the correspondence and speeches
are provided for patron use.

Andrew Jackson Hamilton Papers, 1847-1913, Dolph Briscoe Center for American History,
The University of Texas at Austin.

Processing Information

This collection processed by Frances Rodgers, March 1975, Angela Olivera, May
1986.

Basic processing and cataloging of this collection was supported with funds from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC) for the Briscoe Center’s History Revealed: Bringing Collections to Light project, 2009-2011.

Detailed Description of the Papers
Inventory3K426Transcripts2L145Correspondence,1850-19072L145Speeches,1851-1867 and undated2L146Speeches,1851-1867 and undated2L146Scrapbook,undated2L146Legal records, 1847-1913 and
undated2L146Transcripts3S178Commission (photocopy)3S178Proclamation (photocopy)